Letter to MTA Opposing Service Cuts to M31, M57, M66 and M72

Thank you to New York City Transit for your diligent evaluation of bus service routes, but we must express concern with regards to insufficient public notice and object to service cuts of up to 33% to four bus lines crucial to the Upper East Side, Upper West Side and Midtown.

We received a notice to Elected Officials and Community Boards on Friday, June 16, 2017 at 5:22PM after the close of business for a presentation for informational purposes on Monday, June 19, 2017 at 10AM, providing zero business-days’ notice over Father’s Day weekend with no time for Community Boards to meet let alone speak during the meeting’s public session. Any proposed cuts in service must wait for approval by the Acting President until after the next public meeting on July 24, 2017.

In our letter of March 15, 2015 we expressed concerns regarding ongoing concerns with crosstown bus service connecting the Upper East and Upper West Sides. Following our letter we were grateful to see the implementation of Select Bus Service for two crosstown bus routes on the M79 and M86. We are however troubled to see cuts in service to the M31, M57, M66, and M72 of 11% to 33% increasing scheduled wait times by as much as five minutes for 20 minutes between buses. We are concerned with increases to headway that will leave our residents feeling abandoned by our buses. Increasing headways above 9 minutes leaves residents more likely to walk than wait the proposed 20 minutes for a bus that might never come.

While the research and evaluation done by the MTA for proposed service changes is commendable, it is not done in a transparent manner that is subject to public review. We reiterate prior requests for a release of underlying data used to evaluate bus service, including but not limited to bus farebox data.

Thank you for your attention to this matter and we hope to have a response prior to any reduction in service.